-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- World No. 1 Novak Djokovic began his quest for a fourth title at the Dubai Tennis Championships with a straight forward victory over fellow Serbian Victor Troicki .

The 25-year-old won three consecutive titles in Dubai between 2009 and 2011 before 17-time grand slam champion Roger Federer triumphed last year .

Djokovic , who won the first major of the year at the Australian Open in January , is playing in his first ATP Tour event as he looks to maintain his unbeaten start to the season .

His victory in Melbourne raised the prospect that Djokovic , who has won five of the last nine grand slam titles , could complete a clean sweep of the majors for the first time since Rod Laver in 1969 .

Asked whether he could go on another run like the one at the start of the 2011 season that saw him unbeaten for 43 matches he said in an on-court interview : `` Yes I am definitely am -LRB- on a streak -RRB- .

`` But I am not thinking about it or trying to better the one I had in 2011 , because it 's really hard to ask from myself something which may be impossible .

`` But knowing that I have done it gives me that mental edge and confidence I need in to approach every tournament with self-belief . ''

Djokovic enjoys an impressive record over Troicki , losing just once in their last 13 encounters , and broke his opponent 's first service game to set the tone for the match .

Though the world No. 44 put up a better fight in the second set , Djokovic rarely looked in any danger as he wrapped up the match in just over an hour .

`` Because I have not played for a while I was extremely focused and committed to starting well , '' Djokovic added .

`` I played really , really well in the first set . I read his serve well , and I was aggressive in the court . So altogether I am satisfied with my performance and I hope I can continue . ''

Elsewhere , the No. 4 seed Juan Martin del Potro was forced to save three match points during a hard fought 4-6 6-4 7-6 victory over Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis .

The Argentinean , who won the 14th ATP title of his career in Rotterdam recently , came close to losing the contest at 4-5 in the deciding set but battled back to take it on a tiebreak .

He 's a great player , '' del Potro told the ATP Tour 's official website . `` He fights like me every point , and we had fantastic rallies . I 'm so glad to beat him tonight in Dubai .

`` I played fantastic forehands to keep playing this match . Then in the end , of course , you need a little bit of luck to win these kinds of matches , and I think I played solid on important points in the third . ''

Tomas Berdych , the No. 3 seed , had no such problems as he accounted for American wild card Rajeev Ram 6-1 6-3 in less than an hour .

The 27-year-old was runner up to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at last week 's Marseille Open , despite having a match point . He made the Dubai semis in 2011 , losing to Djokovic .

Nikolay Davydenko edged past the No. 6 seed , Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia . The Russian , who is retiring at the end of this year , triumphed 6-0 7-5 .

There were also victories on Thursday for Marcel Granollers , of Spain , Romania 's Victor Hanescu , Tobias Kamke , from Germany and Russia 's Dmitry Tursunov .

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World No. 1 Novak Djokovic into the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships

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Djokovic defeats fellow Serbian Victor Troicki 6-1 6-4 in just over an hour

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The 25-year-old won three consecutive titles in Dubai between 2009 and 2011

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Juan Martin del Potro saves three match points in victory over Marcos Baghdatis